As world leaders gather in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, Russia’s full-scale, genocidal war against Ukraine is now in its third year. This conflict has not only resulted in the massive suffering of Ukrainians, but a re-ordering of the global order.
In its attempt to subjugate Ukrainians, Russia has enlisted the help of traditional rogue actors in Tehran and Pyongyang and the authoritarian regime in Beijing. This axis of dictatorships is now here to stay.
Although Beijing will pretend to play peacemaker in the Ukraine conflict, the reality is that China is now a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as stated in the declaration from the latest North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Washington, DC.
To deal with the acute threat from Moscow, the United States needs to first and foremost urgently expedite military and economic assistance to Ukraine in order to defeat Russia and to deter Russian aggression against other U.S. allies. To prevent a future threat against Ukraine, we must accelerate Ukraine’s entry into NATO. The West must also double down on sanctions against Russia, so that Putin’s regime is deprived of the revenue needed to wage war.
While Putin’s Russia is an acute threat to the free world, the Chinese communist dictatorship is a generational challenge to the United States and to the U.S.-led global order.
As China’s leader Xi Jinping said upon assuming power in 2012, “the Chinese nation will forge ahead like a gigantic ship breaking through strong winds and heavy waves.” That gigantic ship inevitably runs through U.S. global interests and those of our allies — especially a free Taiwan.
The United States needs to prioritize the China challenge. Like a boxer before a title fight, we must move forward with renewed unity of purpose and generational investments in our nation’s education, science, and the defense industrial base. We must compete with China’s geostrategic initiatives around the world, including through successful U.S. programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
And in so doing, we must always lead with our values of freedom and democracy to confront Beijing and Moscow’s global authoritarian agenda.
After all, respect for human rights – for people within our borders as well as those beyond – is what separates us from the Russian and Chinese regimes.
